To think sending useable school uniform to S Africa is bonkers

[reallyconfusedmostofthetime]

Our school recently changed its uniform and the old uniform that would normally be sold as second hand is being sent to a school in South Africa.
My son has lost his hoodie even with his initials on the front and I can't buy a second hand replacement even though they have them still is because all of it is being shipped off at a cost.
Surely the cost of sending it added to the loss of the value of selling it second hand makes it a loss leader and therefore sending it a sham and just a 'feel good' exercise?
I could buy a hoodie and donate the difference of buying new to charity also.
And the there's also a risk it might not get to the right people, or end up in landfill. 🙄

Won't you have to get one of the new hoodies now anyway?

But if the uniform is changing, of course they're not going to sell the old stuff second-hand to pupils because it won't be the right uniform. If they keep reselling the stuff second-hand there will still be pupils wearing the old uniform in five years' time. So donating it to charity makes more sense in this case.

That’s not what ‘loss leader’ means.

I'm confused. New uniform so there's no need for a second hand store anymore? The school doesn't want you buying scond hand and taking longer to get existing uniform out of circulation.

As for the cost etc - I'm assuming there's some arrangement that would m ake this less than simply buying many uniforms. And, assuming it's going to a specific school why on earth do you think it's going to landfill? Surely it will be gratefully received by whatever school is receiving it?

That's not to say that simply sending the cost of the uniform to SA might not be better, but I'm not convinced by your arguments.

Bonkers and patronising. How will children in South Africa feel wearing cast offs from British children? They all have phones, they can all google, look at pictures of the school on social media.

If this is going ahead will the school build a meaningful link with the school in South Africa - an exchange programme or penpal scheme? Or is it a one off to justify their uniform upgrade?

Has the school actually looked in to whether it is legal in SA? So many places sent rags the government banned some imports.

If there is a school with the same or similar uniform then maybe there isn't much cost, a decade or so ago I asked SA airlines to take a package of bras, and they did FOC.

SA takes a lot of school uniform and football kit from the UK, it’s very common. They have a completely different idea about what’s wasteful and what’s not. Yes it’s probably caused by poverty in the first place, but be that as it may, they don’t have the throwaway culture that we have in this country.

Hand me downs of this sort in SA is completely normal. So the issue might be cost or as another poster has pointed out, if the SA government is not keen (eg a few years ago, don't know if it's still the case, to protect the SA textile industry they got quite shirty with people bringing wedding dresses into the country for destination weddings!) but wearing hand me downs won't be an issue at all.

Various African countries are already drowning in our cast offs. I’m fairly doubtful they would want a limited amount of clothing from a random uk school.

Surely temperature wise the uniforms not going to be much use. Maybe summer dresses and polo shirts but are jumpers and trousers even useful, I know it can get very chilly overnight but during the day it's fairly warm even in winter isn't it?

It is not freezing mostly, no, but yes, trousers and jumpers are necessary. Big heavy coats and scarves are less well used, but it's not the tropics - people dont' wear shorts and only shorts all year round.

Oh the old ‘Africa equals hot’ business 🙄

@TitusMoan I think the poster just meant it's not going to get cold like it gets in England

I wonder if the cost of shipping it all is more or less than the cost of just buying uniforms in south Africa..?

When my school uniform changed the old uniform was valid and accepted for 10 years after the change so that family hand-me-downs and 2nd hand shop purchases could still be used.

Yeah. It's ridiculous.

@jimmyateworld there are very few places in the world where it is always sufficiently hot that the sort of light trousers included in school uniform are never needed. It's boring when people assume the entire continent of Africa is like this.

Well, I assume they are sending it to a place in South Africa that actually wants these things, not just a random school. It’ll be fine, OP. Just get your son a new hoodie and stop clutching those pearls.

If the design of the uniform has changed then it's of no use to anyone at your school, or any other in the UK. Presumably the SA school has the same initials or something? If the things are embroidered or have a crest then it does seem a bit weird. Or just a coincidence? But undoubtedly just some virtue signalling going on.

The term 'loss leader' doesn't refer to donating used clothing to charity. It's when a retailer chooses to sell a specific item at a loss to encourage custom and positive promotion in other areas of the business.

I always think uniform should be generic. If there's a badge or crest then you can iron it onto a plain top of the correct colour. I also hate blazers! Why do they make kids wear the bloody things? 🤣

Reminds me of the ‘there won’t be snow in Africa this Christmas’ line in that charity song.

Oh except in South Africa, Morocco, Tanzania etc.

’Do they know it’s Christmas time at all?’

Well yes…yes they do 🙄

Yanbu. It's almost criminal to render wearable clothing obsolete.
Schools should allow old uniform for years. The planet is burning and dickish heads are faffing around doing this and wasting carbon by sending it halfway around the world.
It also undermines and undercuts the developing countries textile industries.

South Africa is a middle income country. It has the highest GDP in Africa and 33rd in the world.

It certainly has its problems and poverty but so does the UK.

Why not give the uniform to an impoverished school in a poor area of the UK and save the air miles and continuation of colonialist hand me downs to make children in a far away country feel some kind of gratitude to Great Britain.